The Venture Plan:

A Business Model Canvas Analysis of an Australian Clinic

 

Document Type: Business Model Canvas Analysis

Level: PhD

Word count: 4,998

Reading time: approximately 15 minutes

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Executive Summary

This assignment presents a business plan for a medical organisation willing to provide healthcare services to Australian customers. Its unique offering is primarily based on a combination of advanced treatment methods, such as hormone replacement therapy, injectable skin treatments, and medical weight loss. These services are highly demanded by many consumers with medium and high income levels in Australia, as well as the owners of Medicare and OSHC insurance policies covering some of these options. The use of the Business Model Canvas model allowed the researcher to identify specific areas requiring greater attention, namely key resources, value propositions, customer relationships, communication channels, and customer segments. These areas need to be prioritised by clinic owners to ensure prompt growth rates and minimise initial risks of non-performance.

1. Introduction

This document provides a business plan for a new company focused on the provision of niche medical services for hormone replacement therapy, medical weight loss, and injectable treatments (skin). According to Yahoo Finance (Yahoo, 2022a, n.p.; Yahoo, 2022b, n.p.), these segments have a steady annual growth between 6% and 9% on average that is expected to continue until 2026 or further. As shown by the following figure, the gross value added (GVA) of this industry has been steadily increasing over the previous decade. This suggests that new companies in this market can profit from the growing demand for medical services if they come up with a functional competitive strategy and a solid business plan (Wirtz, 2020, p.15).

Figure 1: Gross Value Added by the Australian Healthcare Industry (Million Australian Dollars)

Source: Statista (2022a, n.p.)

The PESTLE analysis presented below is used to appraise the situation in the Australian market and identify potential risks and failure factors (Rastogi and Trivedi, 2016, p.385). Its results suggest that the current moment may be optimal for a new business venture, due to the positive economic situation and an increasing interest in higher standards of personal health and wellbeing.

Political

The political environment of Australia can be generally appraised as stable (Whiteman, 2022, n.p.). While there exist some issues with representation, they are presently addressed by the local election system.

Economic

Australia has suffered from the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which explains its decreasing GDP figures (Statista, 2022b, n.p.). However, it is still on the list of the world’s top 20 global economies, and its population has sufficient resources for purchasing medical products and services.

Social

The situation with strict lockdowns during COVID-19 has demonstrated a number of issues with the performance of local healthcare providers (Davey, 2022, n.p.). In this aspect, the creation of new specialised clinics may be beneficial to persons with special needs who could not find a sufficient supply of these products and services at a local level previously.

Technological

Australia has good levels of technology development, ensuring the sufficient availability of all digital marketing instruments (Statista, 2022c, n.p.). This allows the analysed company to reach the members of the targeted population segments in the online environment.

Legal

Any clinic in Australia has to be accredited by governmental agencies, such as the Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (Pascoe, 2018, p.65). All medical professionals employed by it are expected to have staff members with local certificates confirming their compliance with applicable regulations.

Environmental

Australia is affected by fires, climate changes, coral bleaching, and deforestation, which all have a detrimental effect on human health and wellbeing (WWF, 2022, n.p.). This may increase public interest in the products and services offered by the analysed company.

2. Business Model Canvas

2.1. Key Activities

The key activities of the analysed business venture will include general practice services, consultations, and specialised programmes focused on medical weight loss, hormone replacement therapy, and injectable skin treatments. As noted by the Mayo Clinic as one of the global leaders in healthcare offerings provision, such procedures need to be closely controlled by clinical specialists at all phases (MayoClinic, 2022, n.p.). Considering the existence of substantial benefits from their use, this creates a long-term relationship with key customers involving multiple interactions. The quality of each constituent activity may directly influence the firm’s capability to create a competitive value proposition (Grauf-Grounds et al., 2020, p.90). The clinic may focus on the provision of specialised services, as well as generic popular services available via Medicare and OSHC, as discussed in the Customer Segments further. The first group of offerings may include hormone therapies, skin health programmes, sexual health programmes, and other conventional and experimental treatment methods, including cannabinoid therapy. The second segment may be more focused on after-hours care, medical weight loss, and other similar services covered by popular insurance policies. At a functional level, the provision of these offerings will require the use of Medicare and OSHC direct billing systems, as well as cooperation with financial institutions allowing the clinic to offer instalment plans and other similar options for expensive medical procedures and treatments (Fawkes, 2020, p.112).

2.2. Key Resources

Considering the above, the analysed business venture needs to possess a number of key resources crucial for its success. First, it needs to attract specialised medical practitioners and clinical support staff, in order to ensure that the provided procedures comply with the highest standards of quality and create value for clinic consumers (Bahadori et al., 2016, p.2379). These contractual agreements may be seen as a powerful resource contributing to the clinic’s sustainable competitive advantage. Second, the firm needs to purchase the required equipment for performing the required measurements and treatments (Misser et al., 2018, p.2). These assets may also require long-term support, which makes the choice of the manufacturer/dealer a critical one for future sustainability and commercial effectiveness. Third, clinic location may be seen as another important strategic decision (Gul and Guneri, 2021, p.2). Central city areas can make the company more accessible for single-time visits and offer a better fit with the busy lifestyles of high-net-worth individuals forming a large part of the targeted population. This will also facilitate the recruiting process, allowing key medical specialists to avoid long commutes and increasing the potential lucrativeness of the clinic’s employer brand.

Fourth, the analysed business venture needs to secure proper funding and/or a line of credit (Akinleye et al., 2019, p.2). This resource may be deemed necessary in the case of leasing expensive equipment to spread the costs of its acquisition over several years. Fifth, the development of marketing capabilities and brand power may be seen as another key resource contributing to the sustainable competitive advantages of the analysed organisation (Nawaz et al., 2020, p.3). Its relationships with existing consumers, positive word-of-mouth, a well-designed website, and growing communities on social media supported by high online rankings may substantially increase potential client numbers and the degrees of trust towards the clinic from its prospective visitors.

2.3. Key Partnerships

As discussed earlier, the clinic needs to establish partnerships with the suppliers of medical instruments and equipment (Hilts et al., 2021, p.172). Additionally, its operations may rely upon the providers of ancillary medical services, such as diagnostic services, if it chooses to outsource some non-crucial operations. Third, the purchase of expensive equipment may require the use of borrowed funds, making Australian financial institutions another potential partner (Alderwick et al., 2021, p.3).  Fourth, the promotion of the clinic may require the use of marketing agencies responsible for formulating an effective marketing message and distributing it via multiple communication channels (Shieh et al., 2020, p.2). Such companies can also become long-term partners of the analysed brand. Finally, the clinic may need to partner with other hospitals, public health units, and pharmacists within the scope of sub-contracting agreements (Schot et al., 2020, p.333). The aforementioned collaborations will ensure the capability to minimise the costs of services provision by focusing on the business venture’s strengths, outsourcing ancillary operations, and negotiating optimal procurement and financing conditions.

2.4. Value Propositions

Hormone replacement therapy is an extremely effective anti-ageing treatment that reduces the risks of many common menopausal issues, such as bone loss in postmenopausal women, blood clots, heart diseases, and breast cancer (Palacios et al., 2019, p.2). This makes it invaluable for a large share of the Australian population interested in maintaining a high quality of life in older age. Similarly, injectable skin treatments, such as Botox or Voluma, are mainly used by female patients willing to relax facial wrinkles, contour facial features, and generally improve a person’s visual appearance (Goldberg et al., 2018, p.2). They are a powerful alternative to cosmetic surgery and can be used by clients of any age willing to look younger or enhance one’s personal beauty. Finally, medical weight loss programmes can be used by both men and women and offer powerful support to patients willing to change their lifestyles and become leaner (Wadden and Bray, 2019, p.251).

Many popular diets are created by non-specialists and may even cause harm to one’s health and well-being (Joshi and Mohan, 2018, p.643). On the contrary, medical weight loss programmes are always based on clinically tested recommendations. Patients get personal plans and are regularly supervised by individual supervisors checking their health indicators and adjusting their dietary plans and/or training routines accordingly. Considering the fact that 67% of Australian adults had obesity during the last National Health Survey of 2018, with 18 million more Australians joining their ranks by 2030 (Health.gov.au, 2022a, n.p.), local government officials are extremely concerned with the situation. This may lead to the inclusion of medical weight loss programmes in Medicare-covered public health plans and increase the number of potential clinic clients interested in this type of offerings.

2.5. Customer Segments

As suggested by the earlier discussed treatment programmes, it is possible to identify a number of customer demographic and psychographic factors common among all targeted population groups and develop several customer personas (Kotler et al., 2019, p.99). The first consumer type includes medium- and high-income male and female customers aged over 35 and over 45 years respectively. These clients are willing to use hormone replacement therapy and injectable skin treatment services to address chronic disease issues and to improve their health, visual appearance, and wellbeing (Kuther, 2018, p.78). They may be interested in long-term cooperation with a trustworthy provider of medical services due to the need to perform multiple repeating procedures. This focus is determined by the fact that endocrine disorders, sexual health issues, high body mass index (BMI) reduction, and non-surgical cosmetic treatments all require extensive examinations and planning prior to the start of specific procedures, as well as continuous supervision with possible adjustments (Ng, 2020, p.71). Considering the relatively high costs of these services, high levels of trust towards the analysed business venture may be recognised as a necessary prerequisite for consumer loyalty.

The second consumer type includes motivated customers aged 21 and above with medium income levels specifically willing to reduce their weight under professional external supervision. They also represent long-term clients due to the fact that such cooperation usually requires at least 6 months to see quality improvements in one’s health and wellbeing (Koliaki et al., 2018, p.75). These clients may become interested in other clinic offerings in the future, which further supports the need to win their trust. This group can form a substantial part of clinic customers, due to the earlier discussed spread of BMI problems in Australia and the increasing concerns of both the general population and the country's government (Menon et al., 2022, p.2). The third consumer type includes Medicare patients of any age interested in any medical services offered by the analysed business venture. This category of consumers is generally not expecting substantial out-of-pocket expenses in addition to the services not covered by their insurance plans (Health.gov.au, 2022b, n.p.). As noted in a recent report from PWC, Australian customers are paying approximately 17% of total health expenditures, which implies that there exists a coverage limit for this group (PWC, 2022, n.p.). As discussed further, this suggests the need for the standardisation and automation of offerings to minimise extra costs and provide affordable and non-unique products and services to these consumers.

2.6. Channels

Access to the aforementioned customer segments can be secured via several marketing communication channels. The first option includes the use of traditional social media marketing channels, such as Facebook communities and Instagram (Radu et al., 2017, p.45). They can include textual and visual information about the clinic, with a focus on ‘brand humanisation’. This can be achieved by posting short stories with specific staff members or asking them to answer the questions of page visitors. As noted by Farsi (2021, p.2), these techniques increase consumer trust and demonstrate high levels of staff professionalism to prospective clients. It may also be noted that the second group may be primarily using Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC), Medicare, and similar insurance programmes. However, many users with medium and high income levels interested in hormone replacement therapy and injectable skin treatments may be using their own out-of-pocket resources to pursue their personal health, beauty, and wellbeing goals (Sridhar, 2017, p.42). The focus of marketing communication may vary substantially in these two cases. The clients using insurance policies may be more interested in coverage to identify how much of their own funds they will have to add to obtain clinic services. In the case of high-net-worth individuals, it may be more effective to emphasise service quality, customer satisfaction guarantees, and bundle discounts allowing them to purchase multiple procedures or long-term support plans at a reduced cost.

The second option includes a focus on Health Engine and similar platforms present in Australia (Taylor, 2021, p.260). They allow medical services providers to list their practices in these databases and update existing ‘appointment windows’ that can be booked by prospective consumers. Considering the equal representation of all firms on these platforms, the analysed business venture will need to invest in high-quality visual images and search engine optimisation/keywords optimisation to ensure that its texts rank high in search results and its account profile is instantly appealing to website visitors (Heggde and Shainesh, 2018, p.117). Additionally, the analysed business venture needs to closely monitor any brand mentions on various social media and websites, including Facebook Business reviews and Google Business reviews, as well as any users tagging the brand on Instagram or Twitter. Prompt and professional reactions to potential questions or criticisms may create positive word-of-mouth in the online environment by demonstrating that the analysed clinic is genuinely concerned about the customer experiences of its existing and prospective clients (Dwivedi et al., 2021, p.3).

The third option includes word-of-mouth marketing. According to Verma and Yadav (2021, p.112), this method may be one of the most powerful instruments for promoting unique or niche products associated with high-involvement purchases. In the case of medical services, substantial risks imply their inclusion in this group, which potentially means that word-of-mouth marketing in the offline and online environments may be seen as one of the most effective methods of reaching customer audiences. The main factor for stimulating discussions related to the brand is the high quality of services, which is achieved by the use of Key Resources and unique Value Propositions discussed earlier (Stellefson et al., 2020, p.35). At the same time, satisfied consumers need to be prompted to share their positive impressions of the analysed business venture. This can be achieved via several digital marketing instruments. First, they can receive discounts for participation in a referral programme that will be applied to both the client and new customers coming to the clinic on the basis of their recommendations (Martin, 2017, p.37). Second, every consumer needs to receive follow-up messages via available communication channels to collect their sincere feedback and/or recommendations. If these appraisals are positive, they can be asked to share their positive experiences on their social media profiles in exchange for one-time discounts.

Third, such services as medical weight loss can be accompanied by contests and campaigns, with specific hashtags and prizes being awarded to persons achieving outstanding results in improving their health and willing to share their achievements with others (Turanci, 2019, p.45). This can also promote the creation of user-generated content and further boost the effectiveness of digital marketing communication. The fourth option includes SMS and email channels. As noted by Tripathi (2020, p.125), they may be characterised as first-party data, which makes them substantially more valuable than third-party databases of ‘cold contacts’ acquired from marketing agencies or other firms. To get these contacts, the analysed clinic needs to publish valuable materials on its website and offer subscription benefits, such as additional posts from its doctors or promotional discounts for medical consultations (Newman et al., 2017, p.117). The collected database can be used for distributing follow-up messages and gradually facilitating the customer journeys of the recipients to increase conversion rates over time.

2.7. Customer Relationships

Consumer relationships between the two earlier discussed segments may take different formats within the model by Osterwalder (2010, p.28), due to the varying costs of maintaining these communication patterns. In the case of high-net-worth individuals, personal assistance or dedicated personal assistance may be seen as optimal strategies for ensuring long-term retention and increasing customer loyalty and trust levels. Hormone replacement therapy, injectable skin treatments, and medical weight loss programmes usually last for many months, which implies the need to provide continuous support at all phases to promptly adjust any utilised procedures and plans and ensure maximum customer satisfaction (Goodman et al., 2020, p.220). However, it may also be possible to include some elements of self-service and automated services, such as ‘wellbeing journals’ led by the clients as an additional analysis tool allowing clinic specialists to offer more specific and personalised recommendations to individual customers (Lee et al., 2018, p.2). Overall, the relationship scheme with the first two consumer groups may be characterised as specialised services with dedicated attention.

At the same time, the consumers interested in the services covered by Medicare or OSHC insurance plans such as medical weight loss programmes may require a different relationship development strategy. It can combine the elements of community-based communication, automation, self-help, and transactional strategies discussed by Osterwalder (2010, p.29). Specifically, they may receive an extensive initial consultation followed by repeating regular check-up meetings afterwards. The lack of interactions between these communication acts can be compensated by their inclusion in online communities or their engagement with the earlier discussed ‘wellbeing journals’, as well as informational newsletters, gamified messages, and other instruments creating a sense of support and gratification from personal achievements with minimal brand involvement and financial expenses (Surabhi, 2021, p.145). This plan will allow the analysed business venture to maintain relationships with multiple consumers in a cost-efficient manner and win their loyalty, potentially leading to the acquisition of its other products and services (Shanthi, 2021, p.20).

Considering the general unwillingness of such clients to incur out-of-pocket costs for the services not covered by their medical insurance policies, the use of standardisation and automation may be seen as an optimal strategy for maintaining high levels of service standards through the use of modern technologies (Wirtz and Lovelock, 2021, p.431). It should also be noted that all three customer segments need to be 100% certain of the confidentiality of their relationships with the clinic and the safety of all information shared with it (Abouelmehdi et al., 2018, p.2). Hence, it may be necessary to announce the possessed technological resources and key partnerships in this sphere, such as the use of reliable cybersecurity solutions or regular collaborations with external auditors ensuring high levels of compliance with all applicable regulations and best practices in personal data protection.

2.8. Cost Structure

In the case of the first customer group, the cost structure may be characterised as a value-driven one (Shults, 2020, p.179). Such spheres as hormone replacement therapy and injectable skin treatments are associated with high potential risks of non-performance and require continued cooperation with the patients to identify the most optimal strategy, maximising the results with minimal inconveniences and wellbeing problems. This approach may not provide for cost optimisation, which has to be reflected in pricing choices. In terms of Porter’s competitive strategies, the optimal choice in this sphere may be characterised as a differentiation focus (Islami et al., 2020, p.2). This way, the proposed business venture will be able to offer high-quality services, potentially attracting clients from all targeted geographical areas to come for consultations and treatment services. In the case of the second consumer group, the costs structure may be seen as a combination of the value-driven and cost-driven approaches (Krishnakumar and Tee, 2021, p.85). The company needs to offer high-quality services but may cut some expenses associated with longitudinal customer support, follow-up messages, and engagement practices. These functions can be outsourced to create online communities and newsletters maintaining a sense of communication without the need for extensive personalisation and the use of specialists’ time.

All costs can also be subdivided into fixed and variable ones (Lee, 2016, p.32). The first group includes utility payments, rental expenses, the salaries of administrative and clinical staff, lease payments, and regular equipment servicing expenses. Their volume is not expected to change significantly over time, due to the pre-determined range of offered services and the resources required for their provision (Ryan et al., 2017, p.416). At the same time, variable costs may vary substantially during the first months of the clinic’s operations. On the one hand, electricity, consumables, medical supplies, and other similar expenses may not change beyond a certain limit, due to the predictable nature of operations of the analysed business venture (Phelps, 2017, p.224). On the other hand, marketing costs may need to be increased during the first several months following the organisation’s opening and gradually decrease over time as brand awareness and brand equity generate greater amounts of positive word-of-mouth in online and offline environments.

2.9. Revenue Streams

As implied by the above, the analysed business venture will be getting revenue from multiple sources, including state insurance funds and payments received directly from individual customers. First, the clinic will use bulk billing to receive Medicare and OSHC benefits as compensation for the services provided to clients (Milani, 2019, p.58). This system will primarily operate via electronic platforms and will support co-payment options where necessary. Bulk billing will be used for both one-time visits and recurrent treatment procedures for chronic diseases, medical weight reduction, hormone therapy, and other applicable cases. Second, individual customers may be willing to pay for clinic’s services directly (Cleverley and Cleverley, 2017, p.35). This process could be organised as single-time operations or ‘service bundles’ suggested earlier and promoted via specific discounts. To support this revenue stream, the clinic will need to provide multiple payment options, including cash, wire transfers, online transactions, instalment plans, and other popular variants. All of them need to be processed in an anonymised manner to minimise the potential risks of disclosing patients’ identities to third parties. Third, the clinic may choose to attract subtenant organisations and individuals to cover some of its rental costs (Scarrett and Wilcox, 2018, p.116). Considering the focus of the analysed business venture’s operations, it may be more logical to prioritise the firms compatible with it. This will allow the clinic to expand its offerings by auxiliary products and services, increasing the offered value and the convenience of customers who can purchase multiple things in a single place.

2.10. Section Summary

The following SWOT presents a summary of the identified organisational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats identified in the previous sections of the analysis.

Figure 2: SWOT Analysis

Based on: Carvalho et al. (2021, p.30), Fleming et al. (2019, p.78); Neck et al. (2020, p.62), Proctor (2010, p.3); Tang et al. (2020, p.362); Westra et al. (2017, p.150); Willis et al. (2019, p.82)

3. Key Recommendations

The conducted analysis has informed a number of recommendations to the analysed business venture. First, the identified customer categories differ substantially, due to their varying needs, preferred payment options, and expectations from the relationship with the clinic (Kotler et al., 2019, p.99). Individuals with medium and high income levels may be more interested in long-term relationships based on trust and loyalty. Hence, the quality of service and brand power may be seen as primary antecedents of positive interactions and desired conversion rates in this sphere (Ng, 2020, p.71). At the same time, Medicare and OSHC customers may choose the clinic due to beneficial insurance policy conditions or its convenient location. Considering a large number of organisations present on such platforms as Health Engine, the brand power of the analysed business venture may not be seen as a powerful factor creating more sales in this domain (Taylor, 2021, p.260). These considerations imply the need to focus on the development of owned media, such as social media communities, and attempt to create positive word-of-mouth on the basis of the first category of customers. This will ensure that both groups will be able to find positive reviews in the online environment and choose the clinic as their preferred provider of specialised medical services.

Second, the key activities of the analysed business venture can be seen as a highly complex arrangement of processes serving multiple customer categories and processing payments and documentation from multiple revenue streams (Milani, 2019, p.58). Considering the above, it may be deemed necessary to separate Medicare and OSHC clients from the clients willing to pay full price for unique services that are not covered by insurance policies. In the first group, the majority of transactions will be performed via state organisations, which will allow the management to isolate these processes and manage them more effectively (Cleverley and Cleverley, 2017, p.35). In the second scenario, the clinic will need to provide a variety of payment options and coordinate them with financial institutions processing them and providing instalment plans where necessary. The proposed separation may also be deemed important due to cybersecurity concerns. Medicare and OSHC data have to be sent or received from corresponding external providers, while the data of individual clients paying full price have to be stored within the clinic databases (Abouelmehdi et al., 2018, p.2). The isolation of these two systems may be deemed beneficial due to the different provisions and arrangements in these domains.

Third, such key resources as clinic location and quality equipment and personnel are associated with high risks in the case of non-performance (Verma and Yadav, 2021, p.112). To minimise them, it may be necessary to organise preliminary analyses and survey to identify the city regions with the greatest transport accessibility and maximal potential visitor convenience. Similarly, the quality of equipment needs to be appraised in accordance with both official characteristics and manufacturer guarantees and payment arrangement options (Stellefson et al., 2020, p.35). Lease variants should be prioritised due to the capability to cancel them without losing the whole contract sum in the worst-case scenario. This exit strategy will allow clinic owners to change the supplier in the case of equipment non-performance or quit the business completely if the macro-environmental situation or rivalry factors make the analysed business venture less profitable than expected (Misser et al., 2018, p.2). In terms of personnel members, medium-term contracts can be used for the same purpose to ensure that staff size and composition can be flexibly adjusted in the future, depending on the financial results and the changing client demands identified after the first months of company operation.

Fourth, the scope of the clinic’s value propositions can be seen as a rather diverse one. On the one hand, this dictates the need to use different marketing messages for different customer groups (Nawaz et al., 2020, p.3). For example, high-net-worth service users may be attracted by such themes as clinic credibility, positive reviews, and the presence of specialists with unique qualifications and expertise. On the other hand, the clients from other groups can become interested in the clinic due to its partnership with Medicare or OSHC within some applicable plans (Shieh et al., 2020, p.2). These opportunities can be highlighted as a way to improve one’s health, appearance, and wellbeing in an affordable manner by using the products and services covered by already owned insurance policies. At the same time, both segments can also be seen as overlapping structures, since the clinic is planning to sell both Medicare-funded and customer-funded offerings (Goldberg et al., 2018, p.2). Hence, clients from the second group also need to be informed about the advantages of premium services, such as personal plans development or individual patient supervision to stimulate ‘upselling’ behaviours.

4. Conclusion

It can be summarised that the analysed business venture needs to focus on key resources, value propositions, customer relationships, communication channels, and customer segments as high-priority areas within the Business Model Canvas framework to create a sustainable competitive advantage (Shieh et al., 2020, p.2). At the moment of the analysis, its offerings are aimed at two client segments and reflect existing market needs, such as the increasing demand for high-quality treatment programmes, including hormone replacement therapy, injectable skin treatment, and medical weight reduction. With that being said, the analysis revealed a number of potential weaknesses discussed within the SWOT analysis earlier (Fleming et al., 2019, p.78; Willis et al., 2019, p.82). Specifically, competition patterns and customer characteristics may vary substantially between the identified targeted groups. For example, the consumers interested in Medicare-covered services may not be motivated by the same ‘selling points’ as medium- and high-income individuals looking for hormone replacement therapy programmes and injectable skin treatment programmes as a way to improve their health and wellbeing (Westra et al., 2017, p.150). The second group may be focused on services quality and convenience to a greater degree, which potentially makes these factors more important than clinic pricing strategies.

Similarly, there exist multiple identified communication channels and types of messages that can be used to reach each of the identified categories (Taylor, 2021, p.260). In this aspect, the studied organisation may not fully rely on third-party platforms, such as Health Engine, that limit its capability to fully present the unique features of its brand. These opportunities may be present in the case of social media and owned media in general, which implies the need to focus on the clinic’s website and online communities and prioritise their development over promotion via specialised state resources and review aggregators (Heggde and Shainesh, 2018, p.117). This way, the analysed business venture can create positive word-of-mouth and directly manage any emerging dialogues with existing and prospective customers. It can also be noted that automation and standardisation relying on modern technologies can be crucial for balancing costs and avoiding excessive expenses in the case of customers using Medicare and OSHC policies to cover their treatment needs (Dwivedi et al., 2021, p.3). Hence, the clinic needs to create a number of self-help resources, as well as easily manageable marketing tools, including hashtag campaigns and referral programmes, to attract new clients and stimulate positive word-of-mouth in both online and offline environments.

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